Meat and Salad

We had my mom over for dinner tonight. She got to benefit from this week's blog cooking. :) I made an oldie, but modified it to be a goodie...Spinach -Stuffed Turkey Meat Loaf from the Williams Sonoma Eassentials of Healthful Cooking.

I HATE meat loaf, but this recipe ROCKS! Alex and I have made this recipe before and it was pretty good. The tomato sauce that the recipe calls for is a bit too exotic for me, so I concocted my own this time and it turned out FABULOUS!!! I have included the recipe as it is in the book so you can see how exotic it is and try it out for your self and then I will tell you what I did to change it up.

I love how pretty this recipe plates up. I dig the 'pin wheel' look of this meat loaf. It makes me feel creative each time I make it.

Spinach-Stuffed Turkey Meat Loaf
1 1/2 teaspoon canola oil
6 slices white bread, crusts removed and bread torn into 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup milk
2 lbs ground turkey breast
2 tablespoons Dijon Mustard
2 teaspoons dried oregano
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 large egg white

For the Stuffing:
2 lbs fresh spinach or 1 lb frozen chopped spinach
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
3 green onions, green tender tops only chopped
1 large egg white
Freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup grated Romano cheese
4-5 cups Spicy Tomato Sauce
1 teaspoon grated orange zest (too exotic for me)

Line a cookie pan with aluminum foil and brush with 1/2 teaspoon of canola oil.

In a bowl, using a fork, mash the bread with the milk until the milk is fully absorbed. Squeeze the bread to eliminate excess milk. In another bowl, using a fork, combine the turkey, mustard, oregano 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add the soaked bread and egg white and mix until creamy 2-3 minutes. Spread in the prepared pan to make an even layer. Cover the pan with plastic wrap. Refrigerate 1-3 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

To make the stuffing, thaw frozen spinach in microwave for two minutes and squeeze excess water out. Heat olive oil in sauce pan and add spinach and green onions. Heat through until dry and fluffy. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. Stir in the egg white and season generously with pepper.

Take meat from refrigerator and spread stuffing evenly over the meat. Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the stuffing. Lifting the foil along the long side facing you, roll up the meat and stuffing like a jelly roll, pushing it foward a bit at a time and lifting the foil away, until a long log has formed. Brush with the olive oil and center it on the pan.

Bake the meat loaf uncovered, until an instant read thermometer inserted into the center registers 170 F about 1 hour. Let rest for 15 minutes. In sauce pan combine the tomate sauce and orange zest and heat until hot. Spoon 1/2 cup of the sauce onto each plat. Cut the meat loaf into 8 to 10 slices. Place a slice in the center of the sauce and serve.

Spicy Tomato Sauce: Again, this is the Williams Sonoma version, I made it more like an Italian pasta/pizza sauce. I added Oregano, Thyme, basil and red pepper flakes. I can't even begin to tell you how much I used because I just tossed it in.

1 teaspoon freshly ground white or black pepper (or red pepper flakes if you like the spice!)
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (too exotic for me)
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger (too exotic for me)
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves (too exotic for me)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 can (28 oz.) whole plum tomatoes with juice
1 can (28oz.) chopped tomatoes with juice
2 cups (16 fl. oz.) tomato sauce

In a large Dutch oven or other deep heavy pot over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Add the onion and saute until beginning to soften, about 4 minutes. Reduce heat to medium low, cover and cook untl it releases its juices, about 5 minutes. Stir in the minced garlic.

Add the plum tomatoes and their juice. Using a wooden spoon, break up the tomatoes into 1-inch chunks. Add the chopped tomatoes and their juices and the tomato sauce and then stir in spices (again, use your judgement on the spices). Raise the heat to medium-high and bring the sauce to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, until the sauce has the thickness of tomato puree 15-20 minutes.

Remove form the heat and use immediately or let cool, cover and refrigerate for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 2 months.

Waldorf Salad:
We served this 'Meat Loaf' up with a yummy Waldorf Salad that I got from Williams Sonoma too. I LOVE WS recipes. You can put anything you want in your salad, but the BEST part is the dressing that accompanies this recipe. I use it all the time for veggie wraps. Is sweet and tangy and smooth.
Waldorf Salad Dressing:
3/4 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon Dijon Mustard
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon fresh mint - I substituted dried mint because the store didn't have fresh mint and my mint is still to small to harvest.
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Again, you can add apples, pecans, celery, red bell peppers lettuce...any thing you choose.